What is your current yard temperature?

[sandgroper]

Currently a chilly 8c at 6.00am heading for a sunny top of 21c.

[Silas_Sancona]

A steamy 106F at 3:20PM awaiting to see whether or not it will be another evening of bolt chasing..

Some storms starting to pop up on the Rim / in the Whites, and down near the border south of Tucson on Satellite  ..Question is ..will any of that activity be enough to overcome some CIN - related challenges over the low deserts?  ..We'll see.   Tucson may win out, rain - wise today.



Regardless, at least it isn't as hot ..for now at least..

Looking ahead into the coming week,  earlier thoughts on a downturn in storm activity have been faded somewhat so, while storm potential might decrease slightly over the valley, rest of the state should continue seeing a low / mid- grade monsoonal pattern.

Activity still looking to bump back up  state - wide  late week into next weekend -for now..  Considering the day to day waffling of forecast thoughts lately,  We'll see how that plays out.



Activity that rolled across CA yesterday ended up ignited a few new fires near the southern end of the Sierras / Tehachapi Mtns.  but behaved itself as it moved over the rest of the state.

Another surge of moisture that moved into parts of S. Cal this morning currently firing off some activity across the mountains east of San Diego / Palm Springs, and deserts N.E. of there..  Rest of the state - outside the Sierras and far N. CA., is in the clear.

Weather should stay warm, but not crazy hot across most of the state for now,  though there are some hints another significant heatwave could be ahead as we reach the end of the month / start of Aug. out there  ...Something to keep an eye on.

 

[tim_brissy_13]

Maximum of 10C/50F today in south east Melbourne and very wet. Not ideal after some very cold nights earlier this month. This winter might seriously challenge some of my marginal species. 

[sandgroper]

Currently 19c at t.30am heading for a sunny top of 22c.

[SeanK]

75°F and rain after a high of 92°.

Wet week, thankfully with 30% chance during the days and 60% chance in the evenings. Big change that is welcome.

[tim_brissy_13]

Our overnight temperature was warmer than yesterday during the day hovering around 12C/54F. But it came with 33mm of rain, potentially a dangerous combination for crown rot especially after some frosts. 

[sandgroper]

Currently 14c at 6.00am heading for a very wet, rainy top of 22c.

[Silas_Sancona]

A fairly reasonable 108F at 3:06PM ( 105F when i grabbed the screenshot ) under mainly clear, but slightly hazy / slightly steamy..  skies..



While chances are slim, are some storms roaming the Rim atm, we'll see if we can get something to pop over the valley later. If not, no worries.. Uptick in storm activity creeps back into the picture starting tomorrow, then ramping up even more by the weekend / early next week. ..if the forecast holds..

While July 30th - Aug. 30th is " prime time " by Friday, we'll round the corner, into the heart of the season.



Quick check in on Rainfall totals:

Well, lol ..whadd 'ya  know, the mini - dumping on Sunday night means this year won't be as bad as last year at SKy Harbour ...though .37" thus far isn't exactly something to brag about either.  Still below .20" in the neighborhood.  🙃





Despite the 1.5 - 3" soaking on Sunday / = or + Sunday's  amount thus far in many parts of town down there  ..just a mile or 3 away from mid town, Tucson has only added   ......20" for July thus far, at the airport. 




...Flagstaff:




Regional Winner atm?  ABQ... Well on  their way to reaching their average ..if they continue to see rain thru the rest of the month / rest of the season.



.08" so far in Vegas,  ..and ...0.00" for Yuma..  oof.


Hopefully everyone starts tacking on some good #'s shortly...   Start washing cars folks..

[UK_Palms]

23.7C / 74F at midday here.

Finally a heat injection is coming at last after the 2nd coldest first half of a summer since 1990 (only 2012 was colder) and the coldest first half to a July since 1996.

Chance of 33C / 92F on Friday, which will comfortably be the warmest temperature of be year. As it stands right now, 30.5C / 87F is the highest Met reading at Wisley back in mid-June. I had 31C / 88F here back then.

[SeanK]

91° under sun, 76° under pop-up showers.

[UK_Palms]

27.3C / 80F here at 1pm. Expecting about 29C / 84F here this afternoon. Still a fare bit of cloud, which has been the theme of this summer. Cloudy skies and suppressed daytime highs.

Potentially some tropical nights for London on Friday and Saturday night. Debatable how warm it actually gets on Friday. Could see up to 33C / 92F, or it could be a few degrees lower.

[Than]

43 C / 109 F today in my balcony, the highest we've seen this year. Humidity fell to 15%. Windy. My palms seem fine but my Brugmansia sanguinea looked really sad and I put it inside.

[Foxpalms]

Low of 22c/71.6f with a high of 86f/30c with 65% humidity. The max dew point today was 71f. The UV index was 12. 

 

[Silas_Sancona]

103F at 8:34PM under mainly clear skies w/ a slight easterly breeze..





...And not too far away, in Tucson:  Currently 80F,  w/ lotza rain.  Warmer spots on the north side about to chill out shortly..










Current 90 Min timelapse from the UofA " Catalina Cam ": Look at all that lightning 🤩

http://www.atmo.arizona.edu/products/wximagery/movies/last_90_minutes.mp4

[UK_Palms]

31.9C / 90F here at 12:45pm. Expecting at least 33C / 92F now this afternoon.

[Silas_Sancona]

A hot ..and stinky 109F at 1:14PM ..Stinky because the last AG field in the neighborhood just finished laying down Manure after harvesting some corn they'd been growing.  Wind direction is wafting the scent across the neighborhood atm.  Anyway, lol..


Will it ...   or will it be another dry evening, or one of those nights with a 10 minute pop up shower passing through, like last night? ??    


That is the question for your Friday evening across the valley.  Some bulllish suggestions from several of the AZ WRF Rapid and " Hourly " Rapid Refresh Runs today,  but, those same thoughts come with the caveat that the same models have been a bit over enthusiastic / busting pretty badly lately  ..so,  it will be a " wait and see how things evolve up in the Mountains / Rim "  kind of day..

Off to an alright start up there on Satellite.. 

Note that while the flow in the lower / mid levels would help storms generally move south / southwest  off the mountains, winds in the Upper levels would push any higher Anvil cover off toward the North / Northeast ..thus preventing Thunderstorm tops from moving out over the valley, ahead of any storms and choking off needed Insolation / CAPE - to help generate storms that might fire up down here.

" Anvil Shading " can be one of those hard to resolve ( ...by Weather models ), micro - level challenges that can kill off good opportunity rain days here.  " Convection is complicated ", ...as the saying goes.



If not tonight, weekend / early days of next week ahead should kick rain chances up a notch or two as the 4C's High wanders northwest into Nevada, thus setting up an ideal " Rim to Valley " storm set up. ( Type 2 set up on the Maddox Monsoon Season storm pattern scale )

Trough passing through the Plains at the same time should increase difluence in the mid / upper levels as well, with a decent injection of moisture from the east and south..    We'll See..

Figuring out the best route onto / off the roof regardless, lol

More later,  ..if things are looking

[sandgroper]

Currently 15c at 7.30am heading for a rainy top of 19c.

[Tyrone]

It’s been quite mild for winter this year. No frost the coldest being 3C and the days haven’t been balmy but not frigid either. It got to 18.5C today and the next two days are around 20C max. We are behind with rainfall but everything is wet and moist in the garden. Even one of my bananas is putting out a flower now. 

[Than]

On 7/17/2024 at 1:20 AM, Silas_Sancona said:

A fairly reasonable 108F at 3:06PM ( 105F when i grabbed the screenshot ) under mainly clear, but slightly hazy / slightly steamy..  skies..



While chances are slim, are some storms roaming the Rim atm, we'll see if we can get something to pop over the valley later. If not, no worries.. Uptick in storm activity creeps back into the picture starting tomorrow, then ramping up even more by the weekend / early next week. ..if the forecast holds..

While July 30th - Aug. 30th is " prime time " by Friday, we'll round the corner, into the heart of the season.



Quick check in on Rainfall totals:

Well, lol ..whadd 'ya  know, the mini - dumping on Sunday night means this year won't be as bad as last year at SKy Harbour ...though .37" thus far isn't exactly something to brag about either.  Still below .20" in the neighborhood.  🙃





Despite the 1.5 - 3" soaking on Sunday / = or + Sunday's  amount thus far in many parts of town down there  ..just a mile or 3 away from mid town, Tucson has only added   ......20" for July thus far, at the airport. 




...Flagstaff:




Regional Winner atm?  ABQ... Well on  their way to reaching their average ..if they continue to see rain thru the rest of the month / rest of the season.



.08" so far in Vegas,  ..and ...0.00" for Yuma..  oof.


Hopefully everyone starts tacking on some good #'s shortly...   Start washing cars folks..

Seriously, how is life in such a hot climate? We have our hottest summer ever here with most days above 100F and it's cr@p. We stay at home most of the day, or go to the beach. I feel drained and bored. How is it for you?

I think early summer heat is worse also because days are long..

[Foxpalms]

2 hours ago, Than said:

Seriously, how is life in such a hot climate? We have our hottest summer ever here with most days above 100F and it's cr@p. We stay at home most of the day, or go to the beach. I feel drained and bored. How is it for you?

I think early summer heat is worse also because days are long..

And then there's those who live in places such as Kuwait city that average high 40s low 50s c during the hottest part of the year. Or those deserts that record a high of 44c with a 30c dewpoint such as Dubai.

[Silas_Sancona]

5 hours ago, Than said:

Seriously, how is life in such a hot climate? We have our hottest summer ever here with most days above 100F and it's cr@p. We stay at home most of the day, or go to the beach. I feel drained and bored. How is it for you?

I think early summer heat is worse also because days are long..

Life in the desert, this time of year ..is life..    Most folks here head into the mountains,  or to places like San Diego / S. Cal.  ..or places like Mazatlan, Puerto Penasco, San Carlos / Guaymas,  or Cabo  ( ..or other places in Mexico, and / or beyond ) when they can  to escape the heat.

If you can't get out of town, you can grab a intertube and float down the upper section of the Salt River, ..about 45mins. N.E. of where i'm at. ..Or just hang out by your pool ..if you have one.

Other than that, like most critters, Most Human desert rats here become Crepuscular ( IE: active at dawn and / or dusk ) this time of year, esp. if it is a hot / dry year like this ..and last... year.

While it's still hot,  during summers when it is wetter,  people are out more.. 2021, which was quite wet,  but also kind of hot, was perfect..


....All that said,  that is up here..

Down in Tucson, where it isn't quite as hot,  and they see more rain, ..even during " dry " years ..thus more breaks from any " extreme " heat  July - the end of September,  ..people are out a lot more, though more so earlier and later in the day.
 

MUCH easier to escape to the mountains down there than it is up here too.. about an hour and 10 minute drive to reach days in the 70s / overnights in the 50s - lower 60s at 7-9K ft up on Mt. Lemmon in the Catalinas -from downtown Tucson, or neighborhoods located on the north side of town.

Forecast at Summerhaven ( 7746ft elv. ) for the week ahead. Note how hot it is currently down in the valley ( 2300- 2700ft elv. )



..Roughly the same drive time to get to Madera Canyon, in the Santa Rita Mountains, almost due south of downtown Tucson   ..or the cooler upland areas around Sonoita / Patagonia down there.

It often amazes people how close those places are to downtown, yet that they are much cooler, or the fact that you can easily look down over Tucson from up on Mt. Lemmon, yet it can get kind of chilly up there at night this time of year.



Here?  if traffic is good ( usually isn't, lol ) it can take an hour / hour and a half ( probably under estimating the drive time ) to reach  mid- mountain escape spots like  Sedona or Prescott ( Generally cooler than the valley, but still pretty toasty up there ) ..and 2 < or 3 if traffic is backed up headed north ..which is pretty common > hours to reach Flagstaff. 

Add another hour or 2 to reach the Grand Canyon / Lake Mead / Lake Powell.


I will say this ..as hot as it gets here,  i'm glad i live here and not anywhere along the Colorado River ..IE: Yuma,  Lake Havasu  or Bullhead City..  All three areas typically get much less rain then we see, in a bad year ( sometimes none at all ) / native vegetation is pretty sparse.  We're literally tropical looking compared to those places, even Yuma where winters are a touch milder than up here - for now.

Heat may be a PITA at times this time of year, but the rest of the year easily makes up for it..  No direct hits from Hurricanes, wildly flip flopping winters to deal with.  Overbuilt, yes  and would prefer to be a little further away from denser development, yes,  but,   About as good as it can get, esp. if you can't ..or prefer not... living in CA, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, or New Mexico ...or any of the places in Mexico i'd mentioned. 

Water situation is easy  ..Plant what will grow without too much effort..  Think you can outwit mother nature and you'll only have yourself to blame for what drops dead  ..and / or  the $3-600+ monthly  water bills this time of year trying to keep what shouldn't be grown here alive.  Have a big enough piece of land where you can plant lots of desert tough trees to provide canopy??  list of exotic looking, non / regionally native plant options expands, sometimes quite a bit. Abundant tree canopy also keep the heat in line too

[Tyrone]

It’s 14C at 8am, the sun is out the birds are singing and we are going for a 20C max. Is it October already. 
I pruned my grapevines yesterday. Many had buds and one had a new branch with flowers on it. I was advised by others more knowledgeable than me to cut them off anyway or the plant will be really confused. You shouldn’t see flowers until around October. 

[Silas_Sancona]

Toasty 110F looking east under clear skies waiting to see if any of the storms blowin' up in the mountains atm will reach us this evening..  We'll see what happens..



Tucson? ...fairly decent lookin' Storms getting ready to roar into town,  ..day THREE,  -in -a -row down there.  ...and counting.

Grey looking cloud under the bigger storms rolling into the area just north of Tucson is smoke from the Freeman Fire which experienced a sizable blow up last night.

[Than]

6 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Life in the desert, this time of year ..is life..    Most folks here head into the mountains,  or to places like San Diego / S. Cal.  ..or places like Mazatlan, Puerto Penasco, San Carlos / Guaymas,  or Cabo  ( ..or other places in Mexico, and / or beyond ) when they can  to escape the heat.

If you can't get out of town, you can grab a intertube and float down the upper section of the Salt River, ..about 45mins. N.E. of where i'm at. ..Or just hang out by your pool ..if you have one.

Other than that, like most critters, Most Human desert rats here become Crepuscular ( IE: active at dawn and / or dusk ) this time of year, esp. if it is a hot / dry year like this ..and last... year.

While it's still hot,  during summers when it is wetter,  people are out more.. 2021, which was quite wet,  but also kind of hot, was perfect..


....All that said,  that is up here..

Down in Tucson, where it isn't quite as hot,  and they see more rain, ..even during " dry " years ..thus more breaks from any " extreme " heat  July - the end of September,  ..people are out a lot more, though more so earlier and later in the day.
 

MUCH easier to escape to the mountains down there than it is up here too.. about an hour and 10 minute drive to reach days in the 70s / overnights in the 50s - lower 60s at 7-9K ft up on Mt. Lemmon in the Catalinas -from downtown Tucson, or neighborhoods located on the north side of town.

Forecast at Summerhaven ( 7746ft elv. ) for the week ahead. Note how hot it is currently down in the valley ( 2300- 2700ft elv. )



..Roughly the same drive time to get to Madera Canyon, in the Santa Rita Mountains, almost due south of downtown Tucson   ..or the cooler upland areas around Sonoita / Patagonia down there.

It often amazes people how close those places are to downtown, yet that they are much cooler, or the fact that you can easily look down over Tucson from up on Mt. Lemmon, yet it can get kind of chilly up there at night this time of year.



Here?  if traffic is good ( usually isn't, lol ) it can take an hour / hour and a half ( probably under estimating the drive time ) to reach  mid- mountain escape spots like  Sedona or Prescott ( Generally cooler than the valley, but still pretty toasty up there ) ..and 2 < or 3 if traffic is backed up headed north ..which is pretty common > hours to reach Flagstaff. 

Add another hour or 2 to reach the Grand Canyon / Lake Mead / Lake Powell.


I will say this ..as hot as it gets here,  i'm glad i live here and not anywhere along the Colorado River ..IE: Yuma,  Lake Havasu  or Bullhead City..  All three areas typically get much less rain then we see, in a bad year ( sometimes none at all ) / native vegetation is pretty sparse.  We're literally tropical looking compared to those places, even Yuma where winters are a touch milder than up here - for now.

Heat may be a PITA at times this time of year, but the rest of the year easily makes up for it..  No direct hits from Hurricanes, wildly flip flopping winters to deal with.  Overbuilt, yes  and would prefer to be a little further away from denser development, yes,  but,   About as good as it can get, esp. if you can't ..or prefer not... living in CA, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, or New Mexico ...or any of the places in Mexico i'd mentioned. 

Water situation is easy  ..Plant what will grow without too much effort..  Think you can outwit mother nature and you'll only have yourself to blame for what drops dead  ..and / or  the $3-600+ monthly  water bills this time of year trying to keep what shouldn't be grown here alive.  Have a big enough piece of land where you can plant lots of desert tough trees to provide canopy??  list of exotic looking, non / regionally native plant options expands, sometimes quite a bit. Abundant tree canopy also keep the heat in line too

Yeah I bet winter and spring there must be awesome. 

Water bills... big problem indeed. I am planning on reusing grey water and pray loads.

I was delighted to see 25 C this morning at 7.30. Quite low compared to the previous day. We are still expecting a hot day though.

[Than]

10 hours ago, Foxpalms said:

And then there's those who live in places such as Kuwait city that average high 40s low 50s c during the hottest part of the year. Or those deserts that record a high of 44c with a 30c dewpoint such as Dubai.

Well what's the difference between that and Phoenix? Or Greece these days..

[Tyrone]

It was a sunny 20C day today. The sun has gone down and at 6.15pm it’s 17.1C and a 11.1C dewpoint. Quite balmy for sundown in winter. Another 20C day tomorrow then rain. 

[Silas_Sancona]

102F at 11:10AM, but w/ a steamy Dew Point of 63Deg. / Humidity at 29%, it feels like 109F out..

Will it .. or will today be another BIG bust,  storm - wise?  ...That is the 🤔 for the day..


While a few came close as they passed due south last night just east of town, no storms here.  s3 hours of really strong, gusty wind ..and some light dust, was all we got. 

Was strong enough to spark a brush fire atop South Mountain, directly below where all the communications towers are located up there, and also knock out a couple TV stations for about 2 hours around the same time.

A few sources were thinking it could have been a lightning strike, but i was out watching everything at the time the gust front roared past and over that part of town and there wasn't a single flash in that direction. Cloud tops were too low / undeveloped as well.  so,

Regardless, very rare to see any sort of fire break out up there.



For today.. set up is better for getting storms off the rim into the valley as the 4c's high has now dropped anchor over Cen. / N.W. Nevada ..setting up the more ideal N. / N.E 'rly. " rim to valley " storm setup.

Bigger question atm is if, when they start moving south out of the mountains, do we get a solid line of storms that holds together as it passes through, or a set up where the line breaks up into segments as the whole thing rolls through the valley..  Both outcomes are possible..

All that said, the bullseye for " marginal "  risk area for severe weather is right on top of PHX  ..so we'll see what happens..




Can see activity already beginning to firing up over the rim from about Flagstaff to the Gila Mtns just east of AZ in N.M. on the current Satellite, so, this may be a day of " day trippers "  ..AKA: Storm activity that rolls thru town before... vs. at / right after Sunset.


While the hope is for a good, valley - wide soaking,  if storms end up under performing as they move through, at lest the accompanying outflow / cloud cover during the afternoon should knock down temps -a little- for the evening ahead.  ...Gotta take whatcha' can get sometimes..   Without  complaining...

Thoughts on next week?  = later..

 

[Silas_Sancona]

2 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Can see activity already beginning to firing up over the rim from about Flagstaff to the Gila Mtns just east of AZ in N.M. on the current Satellite, so, this may be a day of " day trippers "  ..AKA: Storm activity that rolls thru town before... vs. at / right after Sunset.

Update:

Here come the day trippers....






107F at 2:18PM / ...115F  w/ the added 22% Humidity / 60deg Dew point.

[Tyrone]

6.30am and 15C. Got some rain coming today. 

[sandgroper]

Currently 14c at 6.00am, pouring with rain, heading for a very wet cool top of 18c.

[Than]

Woop woop, last day of the heatwave today! An extremely long one for our standards, it has been going on for two weeks now. When I was little a heatwave would typically last 2-3 days. Climate change is real! 

A maximum of 39 C / 102 F expected today but 32 / 90 F tomorrow! 🥳

I have officially decided that summer is my least favourite season from now on. I'd rather deal with the freezing toilet seat.

[Than]

On 7/22/2024 at 2:20 AM, Tyrone said:

6.30am and 15C. Got some rain coming today. 

What a mild winter you have there. Sounds lovely.

[Foxpalms]

On 7/21/2024 at 6:37 AM, Than said:

Well what's the difference between that and Phoenix? Or Greece these days..

Kuwait city will have a week with 50c+ temps in a row with high 30c lows. Dubai will be in the 40s but with dewponts around 30c making it feel extremely humid. Whilst Phoenix will be hot the dewpoints will be low, making it a lot more bearable. Though Cyprus in recent years has been seeing extremely high dewpoints in Larnaca whilst being over 40c.

[Foxpalms]

8 hours ago, Than said:

Woop woop, last day of the heatwave today! An extremely long one for our standards, it has been going on for two weeks now. When I was little a heatwave would typically last 2-3 days. Climate change is real! 

A maximum of 39 C / 102 F expected today but 32 / 90 F tomorrow! 🥳

I have officially decided that summer is my least favourite season from now on. I'd rather deal with the freezing toilet seat.

I'd happily swap weather!

[Than]

3 hours ago, Foxpalms said:

I'd happily swap weather!

Trust me, it's not that good. We've had 2 weeks of over 40C every day. We had to wait till midnight to see temperatures below 30C. As a result we ended up staying indoors all day, bored, grumpy and feeling down and without energy. I can't wait for October.

[sandgroper]

Currently a bright and sunny 12c at 9.30am heading for a cold top of 16c before the rain comes back in later tonight.  Jandakot recorded 43mm of rain in the 24 hours till 9.00am yesterday morning, that's pretty impressive for here.

[Arecaceus]

Hazy skies and quiet muggy today. Had a high of 27.8°C and a low of 15.5°C. 🌤️🌫️

[Chester B]

Very cold day here for July.  2:30 pm and we haven't warmed up from our nighttime temps of 74F/23C.  Steady rain all day and night.  

[Silas_Sancona]

What is this sub 80F reading at 12:21AM... What rain does ..when it actually rains.



 CL-w II Sat. view of today's storm activity..  Remember, warmer the colors, colder and higher the cloud tops.. Black and White bordered by any red = very cold storm tops. Grey, Purple, and Blue = warmest / lowest clouds above your head.

One of these days, we'll get one of these big events to explode directly overhead.



Barely outside the area where the last big cluster of storms blew up ( over Casa Grande / Maricopa,  just to my south )

We'll see if we can get a little more rain tomorrow, or if it misses this part of town again like it has up until this evening before activity takes a break over the weekend / early next week.  Potent trough passing across the Pac N.W. may actually keep temps below 110 for a few days as it passes thru the far N'rn Rockies.

[UK_Palms]

16 hours ago, Chester B said:

Very cold day here for July.  2:30 pm and we haven't warmed up from our nighttime temps of 74F/23C.  Steady rain all day and night.  

Similar story here. Yesterday was the coldest July 25th in 17 years, since 2007, with a maximum of just 20.5C / 69F at Heathrow. The 10 year rolling average for the 25th July is 25.7C / 78F, so temperatures were a good 5C / 10F below average yesterday. The story of this summer really.

 

As it stands so far this is the coolest and cloudiest summer in about 40 years, despite it being relatively dry. However I suspect the next week or so, and August, will bump up those summer averages somewhat. Summer won’t finish this anonymously cool and cloudy. We likely haven’t had the best of the summer weather yet, I would think.

 

The subtropical ridging will be more prevalent going into August, with further rainfall suppression in southern areas and more chance of us dragging up warmer air. August will have a hell of a lot of lifting to do either way however to bring up the summer average. Time will tell.

 

London will likely see 31-32C / 90F on Monday or Tuesday although the 850 hPa airmass will only be around 15C. Ideally that would be at 20C for a proper hot spell. 🙄

 

Anyway, it is currently 24.2C / 75F here at 1pm.